UNDERATED for LEGO Ideas: July 2016

Welcome to July’s edition of UNDERATED for LEGO Ideas, which you can only find on the world’s only taboo LEGO fan site, SilentMode.tv.

We’re looking into a fixed schedule for these posts, and at the moment it’s a choice between near the beginning or near the end of each month. This month’s (August) edition is likely to happen closer to the end of the month.

Preamble

As mentioned in our post detailing our experience with submitting a LEGO Ideas project: once an idea has made it past the initial phase, it’s no longer really yours. We’ve seen CUUSOO/Ideas projects gaining traction that coincidentally became official LEGO sets – in most cases without any recompense to the project owner. It’s essentially happened again with the announcement of LEGO’s Brickheadz, and I have no doubt that it’s not by accident.

Releasing ownership of your idea is one of the risks you’ll have to take if you decide to submit your project. It’s up to you to decide whether getting 10,000 supporters and passing the review stage is worth it.

Before my “dark age”, one of the sets I’d bought was an Octan fuel tanker. I don’t think there were many trucks or lorries back then, and I didn’t really think about it too hard.

However, those little details of how a town or city gets its supplies can’t be overlooked today. I have no idea what this truck is intended to carry, but I like its overall construction: it marries System elements with Technic fairings, pins and liftarms. The Technic side provides the different levels of articulation, while the brick-built truck cements its place as a City vehicle.

Whether you’re a huge truck fan or not, I think this vehicle deserves at least one spot in a town/city layout. Sadly it only has 40 supporters behind it at the time of writing, so it could really use your support.

This project immediately stands out from the other cars and vehicles, simply due to being straight to the point. There are only two images (both computer rendered) and a straightforward overview of why the project exists. That’s all this project needs, as the design of the vehicle says the rest.

I think it would be great if a project this size was chosen as an official set, and I can see a lot of people buying two or more – either to put in their city displays, or just as a cool vehicle on its own.

Even if it’s only available in Red, there are 150 supporters behind this project right now. Why not join them?

As expected: in the wake of the surprise decision to go with the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, another famous and fictional water craft is going for the 10,000 supporter prize. This one makes sense, particularly as LEGO have already produced Disney Collectible Minifigures.

As you might know I’m not a Disney fan at all, but I’d have to admit this would make a good LEGO Ideas set – particularly at the GBP 50/60 price point. That’s all I’m going to say about it, except it currently has 108 supporters.

It turns out that all of July’s picks are vehicles of some kind, with three of them being Red vehicles.

In any case: while the Fire City subtheme might be played out, there’s one more spark of inspiration with this rendition of a classic fire engine. It comes with everything you’d need to put out fires, including a working ladder, classic fire hose, and a small crew of firemen (or women, if you prefer).

I could see this fire engine being part of a town modelled after San Francisco, or an alternative fire engine to pair with the Fire Brigade modular building.

At the moment it’s doing fairly well, with 235 supporters.

Those were my picks for last month, and I will be back at the end of this month for this month’s UNDERATED picks.

As usual, show your support for these and other LEGO Ideas projects, because they can’t make it without your cooperation.